coppery emerald
{{Short description|Species of hummingbird}}
{{Distinguish|Coppery-headed emerald}}
{{About|the hummingbird|the dragonfly|Somatochlora georgiana}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2022}}
{{Speciesbox
| status = LC
| image = MonographTrochiSupplementGoul 0326.jpg
| image_caption = Coppery emerald (bottom) with narrow-tailed emerald (top)
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status2 = CITES_A2
| status2_system = CITES
| status2_ref = {{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}
| genus = Chlorostilbon
| species = russatus
| authority = (Salvin & Godman, 1881)
| synonyms =
| range_map = Chlorostilbon russatus map.svg
}}
The coppery emerald (Chlorostilbon russatus) is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/hummingbirds/ |title=Hummingbirds |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 12.1 |editor-last1=Gill |editor-first1= F. |editor-last2=Donsker|editor-first2=D.|editor-last3=Rasmussen |editor-first3=P. |date=January 2022 |access-date=January 15, 2022 }}HBW and BirdLife International (2020) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip [.xls zipped 1 MB] retrieved 27 May 2021
Taxonomy and systematics
The coppery emerald is monotypic.
Description
The male coppery emerald is {{convert|8|to|8.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and females {{convert|7|to|7.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}. The species weighs between {{convert|3.2|and|3.6|g|oz|abbr=on}}. Both sexes have a short, straight, black bill. The male's forehead, crown, and upperparts are shining golden green. Its uppertail coverts are coppery green, and its slightly forked tail is golden coppery. Its underparts are glittering golden green. The female's forehead, crown, upperparts, flanks, and uppertail coverts are coppery green and its underparts are smoky gray. Its tail is also slightly forked; its feathers are greenish coppery and the outer four pairs of feathers have a coppery purple band near the end and pale tips. Immature coppery emeralds are similar to adult females with buffy fringes on the feathers of the head.Bündgen, R. and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Coppery Emerald (Chlorostilbon russatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.copeme1.01 retrieved August 2, 2022
Distribution and habitat
The coppery emerald is found in Colombia's lower Magdalena River valley and Santa Marta department (including the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta) and also Serranía del Perijá that straddles the northern Colombia/western Venezuela border. It inhabits semi-open and open landscapes such as scrublands, forest edges, and cultivated areas. The coppery emerald’s elevation (flight height) ranges from sea-level to {{convert|2600|m|ft|abbr=on}}. It is usually between {{convert|500|and|1700|m|ft|abbr=on}}.
Behavior
=Movement=
=Feeding=
The coppery emerald forages for nectar by trap-lining, visiting a circuit of a variety of flowering plants, especially Leguminaceae, Rubiaceae, Heliconiaceae, and Gesneriaceae. It generally forages between {{convert|4|and|12|m|abbr=on}} above the ground. It captures small insects by hawking from a perch and sometimes by gleaning from vegetation.
=Breeding=
The coppery emerald breeds in May and June. It makes a cup nest lined with downy plant material, typically on a sloping branch about {{convert|0.8|m|ft|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} above the ground. The female incubates the clutch of two eggs for 15 to 16 days and fledging occurs about 20 days after hatch.
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Chlorostilbon-russatus |species=coppery emerald}}
=Vocalization=
Status
The IUCN has assessed the coppery emerald as being of Least Concern, though it has a limited range and its population size and trend are unknown. No immediate threats have been identified. It is patchily distributed and considered uncommon to locally common. It readily uses human-made landscapes like plantations and parks.